Sahvir Wheeler had one of the best interview quotes last night that I have heard in quite some time. Especially after all that's he dealt with, the adversity he's faced and still finding a way to show leadership by handling it a certain way, this is a prime example of how to do it maturely and correctly.
Wheeler started his whole career at 2 different collegiate programs, averaging 35+ minutes a game all the way through. Then, on this birthday he gets injured during a home game, exits the court and watches his starting job get filled with seemingly a better option. As we all witnessed this on the floor, Sahvir was left in the dust with a decision to handle head on. As a young man early into his 20's, I'm sure this was a hard pill to swallow, as he has to abruptly accept that fact that he is no longer 'the guy' to lead this team. With that being said, he still brings great value to this squad and is very much needed throughout this season - just in a different way.
Jack "Goose" Givens didn't dance around the subject of the recent change, but in a professional way went directly at it and just asked Sahvir what his feelings were on the situation and how he's been handling it. Jack interviewed him during the first available minutes concluding the game, in which you can listen to the audio version here on UK Athletics' podcast section, starting at the 3:57:30 mark (3 hour, 57 minutes, 30 seconds), that I highly recommend you do. If not, we have the full quotes from the interview down below.
Sahvir Wheeler said this when answering how he currently felt about the role change.
"Yeah, definitely. I think the biggest thing was when I got hurt. That five, that team went down to Tennessee and beat a top-five team on the road. They come back and beat Georgia, at home, was a big win, I think they were undefeated or had one loss at the time in conference play, and as a team, and as a coach, as a team-first guy you got a ride with that lineup. Those guys put in the work, those guys were gelling, those guys made it tough for the other team and they were winning games, so why not? Why not go with that? At the end of the day it’s whatever is best for the team, whatever puts us in a winning position is what I’m going to go with. My game doesn’t change whether I’m starting, whether I’m coming off the bench, I’m going to still be the same. I know the impact I can have on a game at any given moment on both sides of the ball, and tonight when Cason went down it was like you said, ‘next man up’ and we were able to get that W."
I don't think that he could've handled that any better than the way that he did. It takes an upperclassmen to respond to such a situation with that manner and I'm proud of him for the way that he did. I still believe that the decision was correct to make Cason the starting point guard, but I know that Sahvir will provide instant value every minute he's on the floor in many ways outside of scoring the basketball.
Kentucky has turned a page in this season-long debate on who it should be running the show, and we now have official movement to put a stamp on it all.